Marching with the Barren Bitches Book Brigade–Tour Sixteen

by Mel

Here is the master list for the sixteenth tour of the Barren Bitches Book Brigade. What is the Barren Bitches Book Brigade? It’s a book club from the comfort of your own living room. The book club is conducted entirely online and open to anyone (male or female) in the infertility/pregnancy loss/assisted conception/adoption/parenting-after-infertility world (as well as any other related category I inadvertently left off the list). It is called a book tour because everyone reads the same book and then poses a question to the group. Participants choose a few questions to answer and then post their response on their blog. Readers can jump from blog to blog, commenting along the way. We read both fiction and non-fiction.

Anyone can jump aboard–it’s a book club where you can drop in and out as you wish and all in the community are welcome.

Book: An Exact Replica of a Figment of My ImaginationAuthor: Elizabeth McCrackenStart Date: December 4Question Due: January 14Question List Sent Out: January 16Post Dates: January 20(need an explanation of how a book tour works? Click here to go to a list of posts on the past book tours as well as information about future tours.)Something New: the participants on this tour will vote for the next book we read.

About An Exact Replica…:From Bookmarks:

In Elizabeth McCracken’s heartrending memoir—a love letter to the child she lost and the devoted husband who suffered alongside her—McCracken displays her many talents. Her warmth, candor, crystalline prose, lovely imagery, and attention to detail bring her painful story to life. McCracken’s dark sense of humor ensnares unwitting readers, belying the sadness with which she writes, and she shows very little patience for self-pity and sentimentality. Critics praised her clear-eyed account in a genre replete with syrupy, self-aggrandizing books, though some expressed doubts that its subject matter would have wide appeal. “I’m not ready for my first child to fade into history,” explains McCracken. With this heartbreaking account of his life, there’s little chance of that.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. On January 20th, you’ll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on An Exact Replica... I will keep adding to this list until 11 p.m. on January 14. The list is currently open)

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace JestersThe Fertile InfertileThe Road Less TravelledSlaying, Blogging, Whatever…I’m a Smart OneI Won’t Fear LoveAn Unwanted PathAwful But FunctioningSo It GoesAurelia AnnTandCookiesRaspberry ChipDestined to be an Old Woman with No RegretsClioOnceBaby Smiling in Back SeatLife From HereLife and Love in the Petri DishA Little SweetnessNorthern GrinExcavator

Not on the list and want to join? Drop me an email at thetowncriers@gmail.com. You can add yourself up until 11 p.m. on January 14.

(2) read An Exact Replica… by January 14 (or at least enough of it in order to ask a question to the group).

(3) create a single question that would kick off a discussion (in other words, any question that leads to more than a “yes” or “no” answer where someone can express their opinion) and mail it to me on January 14 (or any time beforehand). I will send you a reminder email close to the date. Click here to see sample questions from tour #4.

(4) on January 16, I will send you a list of possible questions. Everyone will choose 3 questions off the list and answer them in a blog entry.

(5) on January 20, people will begin to post their entry. Each day, I will post a linked list of all the people putting up their entry that day so people can go around and read the entries and comment (start a discussion back and forth in the comments section). Reading the entries and commenting on the posts is the best part of the tour–by the end of the week, you should have a comment from every participant (and maybe even a few new permanent blog readers).

Who is Mel?

Melissa, otherwise known as Mel, The Stirrup Queen, and most recently nicknamed Lollipop Goldstein, has been blogging since 2006. In addition to STIRRUP QUEENS, she also writes the daily Lost and Found (LFCA). She also writes for BlogHer. You can join her on StumbleUpon. She's known to Twitter about her wonky ovaries.